European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 14, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Doil Magazine klan rally at Tupelo miss., courthouse under police guard. Iii in kills no longer invisible Empire by Wayne King new York times or the first time in a decade that tired old warhorse of racism the Kun flux klan. Is undergo ing modest growth and for an organization of hooded terrorists that once called itself the invisible Empire becoming increasingly visible. In new leaders Bicker stumbling Over each other to in their faces hooded and unhooked before the Public. He message of racial hatred is the same the Strain of Tatam that always has been part of the klan message is axe pronounced than Ever among some splinter groups. But the packaging has been sanitized often wrap Ped Tea Titae of professed nonviolence. To Ibe last few weeks the klan both old and new. Has Kenping More than its share of attention. Law old was represented by Gary Thomas Rowe or. Frs chief informant in the klan during the Early according to reports he May have been an Active a Japan in some of the violent incidents the govern Jet was paying him to report on. New klan or to be More precise one of " new of. Since there Are several competing groups came a surface in Tupelo miss., where Blacks  been to eng stores Over employment practices. A attention. Klansmen have been mom ing the  and twice have mounted Meir own a Arches and Cross burnings there Al s been Wiy in the North and West cural Center of Oxnard on the cowl a polyglot Community 100,000mexican Americus Blacks and asian who had achieved a notable degree of Rainy was jolted by the klan and a bloody Tat Trast by self styled communists. Tor five hours while the police scrambled to restore or. Small detachments of the extremist factions Bat and around Oxnard s Community auditorium and 5 Ine dust settled. 12 persons had been arrested. Up had been sent to the Hospital the Kun flux klan Weed to exhibit the 1915 film birth of a nation to l2w�, and thousands of citizens were asking outs How the incident had taken place were As Many As 4 my Luna wan they began to disappear after world there was a resurgence in the civil rights Days of the 1960s, raising the number of Active klansmen to Between 10.000 and 15.000. But then membership sagged again. Nobody knows for sure How Many there Are today but the numbers Are believed to have grown slightly More As a result of aggressive recruiting and exploitation of news organizations than of a Rise in racist feeling. The Federal Bureau of investigation no longer keeps an Eye on the klan the Way it once did. Although some attention is still paid to its leadership according to an Atlanta agent. The last estimate by the Bureau in 1975. Was that All klans together could Muster no More than 2,200 Mem Bers. But that was greater than the 1974 estimate of 1.500 and the numbers Are believed to have gone a bit higher in the last two years. Six months ago. Irwin j. Suall. Research director for the anti defamation league of the b Nai b Rith. Said in Washington that his organization s monitoring of the klan counting people who attend rallies and speeches interviewing past and present members showed there were 6.500 members in 1975. And that has since risen to 8,000.traditionally, the anti defamation league s figures have been higher than the bureaus but both believe there has been an increase. However it is rare in the South to Sec More than a few Robed klansmen together a sign that genuine activists Are rare. In Tupelo for example no More than 40 klans men have Ever been seen at a time. But there has been a proliferation of klan organizations some of them bitter rivals. James Venable of deca tur Ca. The Imperial wizard or chief National officer of the National knights of the Kun flux klan says there Are As Many As 40 separate klan groups around the country of these no More than half a dozen appear to have significant membership. They Are Venable s group which was reorganized in the 1950s Robert Shelton s United wans David Duke s knights of the Kun flux klan Bui Wilkinson s invisible Empire. Kun flux klan Dale Reusch s Ohio knights of the Kun flux klan and Bill Chan by s Independent Northern and Southern klans in Indi  the Ohio and Indiana organizations to Ere formed two years ago after wizard Venable threw out reused and Chaney for moral unfitness and conspiring against him the United klans is probably the largest monday August 14, 1978 group in May 1976, its Bicentennial rally in Pulaski term. Drew 1,500 people. There Are philosophical differences among them. Wizard Duke s group for example accepts women and catholics a lapse that a palls traditionalists such As wizard Venable. But the splintering was generated As much be the Lead ers egos Competition for dues Money and what might be described As institutional paranoia. Klansmen Are forever seeing Fri agents or informants under every Sheet and in private they accuse each other of being dupes. Last year members of rival klans were arrested in South Carolina after an armed face off that came close to shooting. The most prominent klan organizations Are the ones headed by David Duke and his former lieutenant. Bill Wilkinson. Duke an articulate Man with a personality that makes him racism s most effective Salesman appears regularly on television talk shows and he does so much advertising for the klan that he gets an Agency discount. Rival klansmen despise him saying that basically he is a revisionist Nad he has been photographed in Brown shirted uniform and Swastika Ana a Ripoff artist who has no real organization. Wilkinson split from him in 1975 after a personal Dis Pute and has since garnered publicity As the organizer of an ill fated rally in Plains. Ga., and of the klan presence in Tupelo. Duke Calls him practically an illiterate a Man who has never read  earlier this year both men sneaked into England on recruiting missions Duke previously had made trips to Canada. In both countries especially Britain racial Trou Bles have made the klan attractive to some Whites but the wizards seemed interested More in the publicity the invisible Empire s Wilkinson managed to be ferreted out for an exclusive interview while Duke reported that he had held a Cross burning for news of the world. Duke in particular seems to attract Young Well groomed followers As Well As the traditional service station klansmen but for All the new attention and apparent membership increase there seems to be no great concern about a klan rebirth. There is talk in Mississippi As there always has  the klan vote and there have been Cross burnings in a few deep South states. Nevertheless the new klan organizations Are regarded As having no political influence except in a Nega Tive Way if a candidate is associated with them publican the new adherents generally advocate nonviolence Alfred skip Robinson Leader of the Black pretest m Tupelo said that " 10 years ago a Black would run from a Klansman. Now. If one of them Rolls out in the Road in front of you with a Hood and a Robe on. He s got trouble on his hands when a knot of klansmen broke into what was sup posed to be a rousing rendition of Dixie after a rally in Tupelo not Long ago it quickly became Clear what a sorry pass the klan has come to. Not one of them knew the words mau6namt growth the stars and stripes